Chapter 64: Don’t Get Caught
Chapter 64: Don’t Get Caught
Most men liked sports cars, and Eric was no exception. However, he only showed up on the first day of Julia and Al’s training to personally try driving one at the training grounds. After that, because he was too busy, he never appeared again.
Inside a temporarily rented villa halfway up Beverly Hills, Eric and Jeffrey were directing staff members as they arranged the set. This would become the filming location for Pretty Woman’s opening scene.
Al Pacino was a standard Method actor, and judging from the rumors in Eric’s previous life that Julia always became “too emotionally invested” while filming and often sparked chemistry with her male co-stars, she should also count as a Method actor.
Actors of this style were accustomed to integrating the role into themselves before expressing it outwardly. If the filming sequence was completely scrambled, it would definitely affect the performance quality. To perfectly display the personality changes of the two leads throughout the film, Eric decided to shoot in chronological order.
In the original movie, the first scene was Edward attending a party at his private lawyer Philip Stuckey’s house. Through Edward’s conversations with several characters, the scene introduced the male lead’s identity and personality.
After discussing it with Jeffrey, Eric ultimately decided to film this scene first while also holding a real party to serve as Pretty Woman’s opening banquet. They did not even plan to hire extras. Most of the attendees would instead be played by the crew members and their families. Since there were not many shots in the scene, Eric was not worried about anything going wrong.
“Yesterday I went to Century City again. Fox still has doubts about releasing our movie during the Valentine’s Day window. I talked with Carta Heng for an entire hour before he finally agreed that if we could guarantee the film wouldn’t be delayed, they would launch the promotional campaign two weeks before Valentine’s Day. Eric, two weeks definitely won’t achieve the best publicity effect. United Artists only dared move Road House with Richard Gere up to the Easter holiday period in March.”
Eric was making notes on a folder with a pencil while calculating something in his mind after hearing Jeffrey’s words. “Don’t worry, Jeffrey. Right now, the entire American media is already voluntarily promoting this movie for me. You could say there are very few people in the United States who don’t know about Pretty Woman already. And by then, another bombshell should explode.”
Jeffrey asked curiously, “What?”
A faint confidence appeared at the corner of Eric’s mouth. “Do the math. Based on Home Alone’s current box office trend, how much do you think it’ll reach by then?”
Jeffrey quickly calculated. By that point, Home Alone would have been in theaters for around twelve weeks, and its box office would very likely surpass two hundred million dollars.
Seeing Jeffrey visibly relax, Eric said, “You understand now?”
Jeffrey nodded. “By then, Home Alone will very likely pass two hundred million dollars. There hasn’t been a domestic North American film that broke the two hundred million mark in the last three years. Some time ago, Variety even published an article pessimistic about the North American domestic market because of that. Once Home Alone breaks two hundred million, the media will definitely explode again.”
“So as long as the quality of this movie itself isn’t a problem, there’s no need to worry about the box office failing because of promotion. On the other hand, United Artists cautiously scheduled Road House one month after Pretty Woman, so they actually won’t be able to benefit much from Pretty Woman’s momentum.”
Eric was not particularly concerned about Road House, a film he had absolutely no impression of from his memories.
Having missed the chance to revive his career through Pretty Woman, Richard Gere would probably find it difficult to rise again in the future. After all, his acting ability was not particularly outstanding. Even up until the time Eric transmigrated, the man had never received a single Oscar nomination.
“Oh right, Eric, yesterday when I went to Fox headquarters, Carta brought up the film adaptation rights for Jurassic Park again. And Fox is also very interested in your newly published Resident Evil, but I steered the conversation away from it.”
Thanks to Michael Kraus’s efforts, Resident Evil had also successfully hit the market a few days earlier. The novel immediately sparked controversy after release. Most newspapers criticized the book, and some reviewers even suspected that Eric had hired a ghostwriter for Resident Evil, because the styles of the two novels were simply too different.
Eric did not respond to any of these suspicions. Anyone with a functioning brain could figure it out—given his current fame and wealth, was there really any need for him to hire a ghostwriter just for a bit of royalty income?
Meanwhile, after Resident Evil was released, Michael Kraus called to say the book was selling very well. Readers were extremely interested in this fresh zombie sci-fi concept. Quite a few readers had even written to Michael and Eric requesting that Resident Evil be adapted into a movie.
“Jeffrey, if anyone contacts us again about adapting the novels into films, just refuse them directly. I definitely won’t hand over those two novels unless they can provide a cooperation proposal that satisfies me.”
Jeffrey nodded, then suddenly remembered something and laughed. “The Golden Globes really gave us face this time. Home Alone actually got nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.”
Eric laughed as well. “Whether it’s the Golden Globes or the Oscars, they’ll bow to box office results in the end. Just wait and see. Even if the Academy doesn’t want to, they’ll still have to grit their teeth and give Home Alone a few nominations.”
Jeffrey tested the waters. “You arranged the shooting schedule so tightly. I’m afraid we won’t even have time to attend the Golden Globe banquet.”
“Don’t worry.” Eric organized the folders and tucked the pencil behind his ear. “The Golden Globes gave us this much face. Even if we have to pause filming, we’ll definitely attend. If we’re both in Los Angeles and refuse the banquet because of filming, somebody might quietly start holding a grudge against us.”
Thinking about poor Leonardo in his previous life, repeatedly receiving Oscar nominations only to go home empty-handed, Eric had no intention of making mistakes in matters like this.
Although many people said Leonardo failed to win Best Actor because his acting ability itself was not strong enough and he always played every role as himself, rather than because he skipped the Oscars after Titanic failed to receive a nomination, the fact that such rumors spread among the public meant they definitely did not come from nowhere.
The two chatted while arranging the filming site. After having lunch together nearby at noon, Eric checked the time and said to Jeffrey, “Jeffrey, you handle the afternoon arrangements. I need to leave for something.”
Jeffrey was extremely curious. At a time like this, what could possibly make Eric abandon the movie preparations?
Eric spoke helplessly. “Drew’s school starts this afternoon. I need to take her there. She caused trouble at school last time, and the principal personally called me.”
Jeffrey froze for a moment, then shook his head and laughed. “You really are raising that girl like a daughter?”
Eric spread his hands. “I spent money and used tricks to sign that agreement with Jaidiko. It practically gave me Drew’s guardianship. If I don’t manage her, who will? Sometimes I feel like I brought this on myself.”
“I actually saw someone praising you in a newspaper,” Jeffrey said. “They said you rescued Drew from the control of her greedy mother and sent her to boarding school to protect her.”
Eric did not hide anything. He picked up the coat hanging over the chair and casually put it on. “I paid someone to write that planted article. I had to let people understand my good intentions, otherwise some people with ulterior motives would keep trying to use Drew being underage against me.”
Jeffrey was drinking coffee at the time. Upon hearing this, he nearly sprayed it out in one gulp. “You really are…”
…
The principal of Drew’s girls’ school was a white woman in her fifties with a kind appearance and a gentle face.
Eric sat alone across from her, listening to her endless lecturing.
“Mr. Williams, deep down, we don’t want to give up on any child. But Miss Barrymore is simply too mischievous. The girls in this school are all daughters of wealthy families. They used to be refined and well-behaved. If their families learn their daughters have started skipping classes, they’ll definitely question the school’s educational environment. Yet we can’t use forceful measures to restrain Miss Barrymore. So if this happens again, we’ll have no choice but to ask Miss Barrymore to transfer schools…”
“Ms. Gulian, I’ve already severely warned Drew.”
“That’s good.” Gulian nodded, then continued rambling for quite some time before finally letting Eric go.
After leaving the office, Eric looked at Drew, who had already changed into her beautiful school uniform. “Alright, I already suffered through the lecture for you. You don’t want me to lose face a second time, do you?”
The girl smiled brightly and wrapped herself around Eric’s arm. “Don’t worry, absolutely not.”
“That answer sounds completely insincere.” Eric curled his lips, though he was rather helpless. The girl was practically impervious to everything. Even if he pinned her down and spanked her, she would probably just squint happily and enjoy it a little.
Opening the car door, Eric sighed and looked around. After confirming no one was nearby, he lowered his voice and said, “Don’t cause any more trouble. I’m going to be very busy lately. Even if you skip class again, just don’t get caught.”
“Hehe… I knew Eric treats me the best.” Drew immediately stood on tiptoe and kissed Eric on the cheek.
Eric smiled and rubbed the girl’s head before turning and getting into the car. He waved his hand, then drove away under Drew’s somewhat reluctant gaze.